How To Combat The 'Falling Off The Wagon' Mindset

Over the years of my work as a Nutritional Therapist, I’ve had many clients come to their sessions telling me that they kind of ‘fell off the wagon’ with their healthy eating. Or I've had people tell me before doing my detox, that they were fearful they wouldn't be able to stay the course without 'falling off the wagon'.

It might be the #1 shame and fear most people have when it comes to establishing good habits around eating well for their health.

First off, I want to expel the myth of the wagon. It doesn’t exist.

There is no wagon, there is only choice and a path. Your path is your journey and it's up to you to choose the trajectory of that path. How bad to you want where that path is leading you to is the real question. If you falter, will you choose to get back up and keep going?

What people are usually referring to is that that feel they won’t perfectly sustain whatever dietary framework they’ve been recommended OR they chose for themselves. Since I no longer put my clients on any kind of ‘diet’ other than a therapeutic diet for a time based on necessity, it’s usually my client’s mindset.

How you show up for yourself in your habits around eating and food has nothing to do with any rules of any kind. There is no perfect diet. And there is no punishment or shame if you don’t eat in a way that is perfect for any reason.

If you fear falling off when it comes to what you put in your mouth and body, that’s a good time to inquire why. What are you really afraid of?

My goal with every client is on progress, never perfection. It’s also about helping each individual get in tune with what foods make sense for them right now. As well as how much food, and how they actually feel.

I’m all about giving your body the purest fuel and the most appropriate fuel for you right not. I’m all about progress. For example, if you are currently skipping breakfast and getting hangry by lunch every day that you have to go eat fast food - you and I both know that pattern isn’t serving you. So should you put yourself on a strict diet to fix that habit? OR should you recognize that planning ahead and cooking a healthier breakfast could lead to a better choice at lunch. It could also lead to better energy and mood throughout the day.

If you know you could make better choices to benefit you, it won’t help if you think you have to make perfect choices or else it won’t be good enough. You won’t know what is perfectly right for you if you don’t reel things in. Start with a template if you must and learn what about it works and what about it doesn’t. Be willing to be honest with yourself.

It’s so much better to choose quality and then sustain that choice over time.
It’s also great when you know you deserve the best quality foods and are so worthy of it.
It’s also powerful to connect to what you are eating to see if it’s satisfying your hunger.

So much more could be said, this is something I work with my 1:1 clients on very closely.

My goal is to help women improve their relationship with food, so they can enjoy more freedom and self-love. So you can take a more compassionate approach to eating. To encourage you to make satisfying food choices and develop a healthier body image. More importantly to stop feeling so stressed out about eating. It’s my mission to help you chance the way you think about food for good.

What about when you need to do a healing diet or a detox?

It’s always about choice based on learning how foods make you feel and you deciding if it’s worth it or not. No guilt. No shame. Just honesty and curiosity. A willingness to take the best care of yourself because you believe you are worth it vs. feeling like you have to do it or else is a mindset shift that makes all the difference. You will learn more about yourself every time you knowingly choose a food that’s not a real healing food.  Your body will tell you how it feels about that food if you truly tune in and listen to it. Then it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth the outcome or not.

For the purposes of my spring detox, it's about doing the best you can and focusing on YOU and your well being for 21 days. Showing up to give yourself the gift of healthy meals every day so you can feel freer in your physical body.

Each day you can get up and focus on what you want for your health. Then it’s up to you to take responsibility to give that to yourself. Using a healing diet like a seasonal detox can teach you SO much about what your body wants. It also doesn’t have to be done perfectly for you to benefit.

A seasonal detox is more about letting go of what does not serve your body. It's a great gift you give to yourself so you can experience the mental, physical and emotional benefits. When you crowd out less than optimal choices with better ones, you give your body a chance to restore itself. A detox focuses on liberating the burden on your liver.  However, a detox will also provide support to other systems in your body, such as the colon, skin, lymph, lungs, kidneys and bladder, mind, and emotions.  As  liver starts the process to release toxins, these other organ systems will also provide pathways to efficient elimination.

One incredible benefit to detoxing will be the awareness gained about how different foods make you feel physically, emotionally, and energetically. Your taste buds will begin to change and you will begin to understand how your body is responding to the foods you are consuming.  This will give you more control of reactions you were not aware were caused by foods.

There are thousands of different dietary recommendations and philosophies, and new ones come up every day. The very best way to figure out your personalized diet is to begin to pay attention to how you feel as you explore different ways of eating and being. In the process of nourishing and gently detoxing, you will begin to recognize which foods may not be serving you, despite what you have read or been told.

The results you should experience during a gentle seasonal 'detox' or a healing-nourishing diet include:

• Weight loss
• More energy
• Better digestion and elimination
• Fewer symptoms of chronic illness
• Improved concentration and mental clarity
• Less congestion and fewer allergy-related systems
• Less joint pain
• Less fluid retention
• Increased sense of peace and relaxation
• Enhanced sleep
• Better looking skin
• Brighter eyes

As you can see the results far outweigh the discomfort of the changes required of you. Choose wanting the benefits and make that bigger than your fear of 'falling off the wagon' or 'failing'. Failing only means you never try. Don't let your fears be the boss of you girl, instead get in tune with your big why. Why do you want to feel good? Why do you want great health? Why do you want more energy? What will having all of those things do for you?

Also get honest and ask yourself; if you aren't experiencing your best health right now with what actions you are taking or not taking? If not, then do you realize something must change for you to feel your best?  What will it cost you in your life and health if you don't do anything?

Results and benefits one detox participant experienced...

When Gerri finished her spring detox, she felt like she was on a better track for her health goals. She joined because she wanted the detox to give her a kick start into being more mindful. Also, she wanted the accountability and plan to help shake her out of a rut she found herself in. She wanted to learn more about how she could best take care of her body, so she could increase her energy and lose some of the excess weight she had accumulated.

Before she started, she was feeling sluggish  not knowing why. She was not as 'light' as she had been normally.  She felt more draggy, and like everything more of an effort.

After the detox, she shared that she was glad she did it. It helped her make better choices, as well as to find new options and pay more attention to the little things that were creeping in. Like the two lollipops daily from a co-worker or the drinks every time she went out with friends or to dinner.

She felt lighter in her body, lost 5 lbs, her clothes fit better. She felt less tired in general and no longer felt like she was dragging through her days. On her days off she used to feel overwhelmed and so exhausted she would need to take a nap. On the detox she just rested for selfcare vs. exhaustion (and didn’t need the nap/rest as much).

During the detox she was surprised she didn't experience any cravings. She also used the detox as a stepping stone to help her ditch old eating habits (too much sugar).

As a type A, one big concern was that she would have to do it all perfectly to get results -but that wasn't the case. As she shifted off the detox, she found it was easier to create more sustainable habits and make better choices, not just around food but including more self-care habits.

Trust me, the benefits outweigh the fear of not doing it perfectly, I promise. Putting yourself first and committing to YOU is always worth it. Make what you want bigger than your fear!



My seasonal detoxes are done in a group format so you can benefit from virtual commoraderie to spur you on. The detoxes includes a guide book, meal plans with recipes, shopping lists, handouts, a private coaching group, an Live Q&A session and once you are done you will get a 30 minute bonus session with me.

Join the wait list: so you can get all the details for when I offer my seasonal detox right HERE !